


Nothing Less

by IntoTheRiverStyx



Category: Arthurian Mythology
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon, Screenplay/Script Format
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:46:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23472679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IntoTheRiverStyx/pseuds/IntoTheRiverStyx
Summary: Post Battle of Camlann, Merlin begins again.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	Nothing Less

Scene One

**EXT. BATTLE OF CAMLANN, TWILIGHT**

Enter  **MERLIN** , clothes in tatters, physically going to survive but mentally exhausted, careful not to step on or trip over the scores of bodies that lie between him and  **KING ARTHUR’s** corpse.

**MERLIN**

There was nothing I could have done different, not this time, not with all the players still learning their roles

There was nothing to be changed, not this time, not when there are still so many things to see, so many knots to untangle before we can begin to search for the plot

So forgive me, my dear King, his most belov’d players for what it is I need to do so that we have a better chance next time.

**MERLIN** begins to slow his pace, body trembling under the weight of all things he has done, all things he knows he will yet have to do.

**MERLIN**

I oft wonder how we get here, of all places, each and every time

Why is it that jealousy and internalized inadequacies win out over duty? What is it about the human condition that makes rage and bloodlust so much easier to sustain than hope and forgiveness?

Why is it men will rather let their blood boil and fury dominate their sense than put aside what it is that has slighted them, wronged them?

**MERLIN** finds  **KING ARTHUR’s** corpse, still with  **MORDRED’s** sword run through him. He collapses to his knees and begins to weep.

**MERLIN**

(through tears)

Were that I knew I would see your end again like this, Good King, I may have done things differently. What, though, I cannot yet tell, for the destiny you reach over and over is not the one meant for you

Oh, to be able to save you from the web those who came before you have woven

But alas - there is no solace for the dead, even when time is forsake, the story started all over again such that the narrator may do a better job of spinning your story.

**MERLIN** stands, slowly, unsteady,  **KING ARTHUR’s** blood on his hands and wrists

**MERLIN**

And so the combined failures of man and god alike bring us to your grave, not enough stones in the land to bury the failures that played out on this field

But perhaps I am a coward

For not allowing these failures to play out 

For not letting nature take its course

But Fie! on nature

And all that it brings

May nature cower before my will, my unending strength

May it cow when I bellow

When I scorch the earth, erase all traces of this

And so I call unto Camelot

Unto myself

We begin again!

**MERLIN** disappears in a cloud of fast-rising fog, the battlefield untouched.

SCENE TWO

**EXT. SMALL ESTATE HOUSE, NIGHT**

**MERLIN** hands a tightly wrapped and softly crying infant to  **SIR ECTOR** , who is unsure what to do with the bundle

**MERLIN**

I ask you raise him as your own, good sir, to hide him from the world until his time is right.

**SIR ECTOR**

When his time is right? What on Earth does that mean?

**MERLIN**

You will know, I can promise you this. I can also promise no ill will befall you or your House so long as the boy is with you.

**SIR ECTOR**

Know that I do this not for you, but for my King.

**MERLIN**

I would expect nothing less.

**MERLIN** leaves  **SIR ECTOR** with the crying bundle, no hope left in his entire being.

  
  



End file.
